US Giving Turkey Predator Drones to Fight Kurds

The United States has agreed in principle to deploy American Predator drones on Turkish soil to aid in the fight against Kurdish freedom fighters struggling to liberate the north of their country from Turkish rule, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

The U.S. military flies unarmed surveillance Predators based in Iraq and shares images and vital intelligence with Turkey to aid Ankara as it battles Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas who have camps in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Erdogan, speaking to reporters in New York on Friday where he attended the United Nations General Assembly, said Turkey has offered to buy or lease the drones and that details are being worked out.